Jamie Mottram Posts

FanHouse is posting the top five current athletes for America's top 25 cities with the following criteria: 1) Who would a New York sports fan say is his/her favorite athlete? 2) Would the player's name (or face) be familiar to locals who don't follow sports?

Find your city's top five: ATL | BOS | CHA | CHI | CIN | CLE | DAL | DC | DEN | DET | HOU | IND | LA | MIA | MIL | MIN | NO | NY | SF | PHI | PHX | PIT | SD | SEA | STL

5. Eli Manning: Eli's "Manning Face" might not be as nationally known as his brother, but Eli's sheepish look and pre-eminent position as the city's most recognizable pro-football player makes him a lock for this list. Now, if he could only translate that into performance... (Desperate to avoid seeing Manning on this list? Your other choices are Jeremy Shockey and Chad Pennington. Meh.)

4. David Wright: Look around the city and all you see is signs, billboards, posters, ads -- ad nauseum -- for the city's poster-child for clean-cut baseball goodness. For all of his on-field stats, Wright's most significant achievement so far is building momentum to replace our No. 1 guy (after the jump...no spoilers here!) as the city's most talented and beloved pro athlete. Wright still needs a few rings, but he's on his way.
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FanHouse is posting the top five current athletes for America's top 25 cities with the following criteria: 1) Who would a Twin Cities fan say is his/her favorite athlete? 2) Would the player's name (or face) be familiar to locals who don't follow sports?

Find your city's top five: ATL | BOS | CHA | CHI | CIN | CLE | DAL | DC | DEN | DET | HOU | IND | LA | MIA | MIL | MIN | NO | NY | SF | PHI | PHO | PIT | SD | SEA | STL

I had to work to get a Vikings player on this list, even though the Purple are clearly still No. 1 among the diehards here (despite gains made recently by the Twins). It should tell you something about the franchise's recent turn that A) It was a struggle and B) The player has yet to play a down yet. With that said, it's a pretty solid top five when you can't even find room for a defending league MVP or a hockey player in a puck-loving state.

5. Adrian Peterson -- Instantly became the Vikings' most recognizable player when the RB was drafted No. 7 overall. People here are so in love with his potential that it's ridiculous. But it's probably wise to let the fans salivate for now. He's a legitimate reason to be excited about the offense; that didn't exist last year.

4. Johan Santana -- This is where it gets tricky. The Twins are stacked with top-end players. Three of them made this list. Missing the cut is 2006 AL MVP Justin Morneau (though if you read the New York papers, you might think Derek Jeter won). As Chris Rock once apparently said at a New York comedy club, according to a reliable source, "Exactly. Who the (bleep) is Justin Morneau." He's just not big enough outside of Minnesota and Canada. Santana, a two-time Cy Young award winner, has nationwide credibility. Even if folks here take him for granted sometimes and pile on a little when he starts slow, they ultimately can't get enough Johan.
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